


The Sea of Statues - Chapter 4

by c2t2



Series: The Sea of Statues [5]
Category: One Piece
Genre: F/M, Gen, M/M, gratuitous art
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-09
Updated: 2019-10-09
Packaged: 2020-11-28 00:38:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,818
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20957567
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/c2t2/pseuds/c2t2
Summary: The crew encounters a man from Manoa who doesn't seem to be afraid of them.





	The Sea of Statues - Chapter 4

Zoro ended his night and went to bed at four as usual, but tonight after he removed his boots and swapped his trousers for soft sleeping pants, he didn’t complete his usual ritual of flopping into bed so hard that it jostled Sanji awake.

Despite what the crap cook would tell you, Zoro didn’t jolt Sanji awake solely to make the cook’s life more miserable by waking him up an hour early.

Although admittedly that was a large part of the appeal.

No, Zoro woke Sanji when he went to bed because once Zoro was asleep, there was nobody else awake on the ship unless one of the others was having a bout of insomnia. It was better to have _someone_ awake, even if it was just the crap cook stewing in resentment for an hour before he got up at five to start breakfast.

But tonight was not going to be one of those nights. Luffy had chosen his cook to sleep with. The lovesick moron was enthusiastically cuddling their captain and sleepily mumbling, “Mellorine…!” while Luffy smiled goofily in his sleep.

If Zoro did his usual thing, Luffy would probably sleep through the jostling, but the crap cook got _angry_ when he found a guy in bed with him.

Angry as in, shrieking and roaring and waking-the-whole-crew angry. Then _everyone_ was up at four o’clock in the freaking morning and they all blamed Zoro and didn’t let him be the only one asleep on the ship, so he was kept awake until he found somewhere to sneak off to and nap. That was unacceptable.

If that wasn’t bad enough, the interrupted sleep made everyone else cranky the rest of the day.

When Sanji woke up on his own, at five, then it was his own damn fault that his freaking out woke the crew and everyone blamed _him,_ so those of them that fell asleep easily could go right back to bed.

So Zoro climbed carefully into his bunk and was asleep in seconds.

Some time later (as in, exactly an hour) there was a whole bunch of noise and chaos that Zoro didn’t even bother to wake up for, and suddenly a still-warm body was scooting under Zoro’s blankets and wrapping around him like a rubbery leech.

He didn’t bother to fully wake up for that either.

Zoro’s fingers were laced behind his head, so he unlaced his hands to draw out one arm and wind it around his temporary bedmate, threading his fingers through black hair on the head nestled under Zoro’s chin.

He could feel Luffy’s stomach grumbling against his own, so he knew the captain wouldn’t stay with him for long once breakfast smells started drifting into the boys’ bunkroom.

***

After breakfast, Zoro raised the anchor and the crew set out to sail counter-clockwise around the island.

“On the Grand Line it’s impossible to tell the cardinal directions without a clear view of the sun or stars,” Nami was saying. “I wonder why everyone kept saying the treasure was to the ‘North’ of the island instead of degrees off log point the way everyone else does?”

“Likely it’s because you don’t get to this island using a log pose, Navigator-san,” Robin replied, “And the needle on an eternal pose to Manoa would change direction depending on what part of the island you are on. Since the skies directly above the island are clear of the Florian Triangle’s fog, navigating with cardinal directions should be feasible on a clear day like today.”

“I suppose you’re right,” Nami sighed, “The sun is still too close to the horizon to see through the mist, but once it rises far enough, we should at least be able to tell which way is east.”

Zoro didn’t know what the hell they were talking about. East was Orient, which he just learned also meant knowing where you are. So as long as they knew where they were then they were facing East, right?

Nami was making this all much more complicated than it needed to be.

“Still, as long as we keep circling the island, we should come upon the north end that has the treasure sooner or later, right?” Usopp added.

A few minutes later, they did not come upon treasure, but instead encountered a combination fishing-houseboat anchored off shore.

Under a shade-umbrella on the ship’s deck was a wiry old man in a fancy blue robe. He was asleep, reclined on a beach chair with his sun-hat drawn down over his face. A fishing line out in the water led to the rod nestled between the man’s toes, positioned to wake him when it was jostled by something taking the bait.

As they pulled up alongside his deck, near enough to speak between the ships without raising their voices, the old man’s snoring interrupted and he snuffled himself awake, reaching up and adjusting his hat to reveal his eyes sleepily peering out at the Sunny, and then going wide with realization as he woke up further.

“Oh I must have been sleeping too deeply to notice your approach. How foolish of me! Oh well, how can I help you strangers?”

“I’d like you to answer a few questions if you don’t mind,” Nami approached the railing and gave him her most winning smile.

“The treasure is to the North,” he pointed the direction they were headed.

They waited for the rest. _Please don’t kill anyone, and leave the eternal pose behind. _But it never came.

“That’s not one of the questions we have.”

Zoro now approached the railing and took in the details of the stranger. He had looked normal enough when they sailed up but this close the Strawhats could see a few odd details.

His robe had appeared fancy even from a distance, but now that they were close enough to see details, the robe was so unlike the ordinary sun-hat the old man was wearing that it didn’t seem like the two items should even be on the same _boat_, much less the same person.

The royal blue fabric was pure silk, judging by the sheen, but that was the least of its qualities. The word “embroidery” wasn’t enough to describe what adorned the garment. Richly colored silk thread was woven into thick, elaborate patterns along every seam and hem, making the entire outfit gleam in jewel tones.

Why was someone wearing that _fishing_, instead of being on a king in a court somewhere?

Who was this man? Fancy-dressed yet not afraid of them. He must have seen the black flag and their Jolly Roger painted on the Sunny’s sail, but he still appeared at ease.

“You don’t seem afraid of us like the others,” Zoro asked, “Why is that?”

“Yes. They are foolish, and far too attached to life. I am old enough to know better.”

“Could you explain that?” Robin asked.

“Of course. Our trading ships hire excellent guards – the strongest that money can buy. If a pirate crew can take an eternal pose from them, there is nothing I can do, and no amount of fear will protect me. I may as well be polite.”

“We didn’t steal a pose. We followed a bird.”

“Hmmm.” He didn’t seem to believe them.

“Does that happen often? I mean, how often do pirates steal an eternal pose to this island?”

“I’m afraid that’s not my area of expertise. My interests are mostly art and fishing. Some of the others enjoy filling their minds with history and statistics, so you’d be better off asking them.”

“Where can we find those people?”

“Oh that was silly of me. They wouldn’t appreciate me giving out locations to hostile invaders like that. Our island’s permanent residents stay out of the way of invasions whenever we can, you see. I’m sure I’ll give up their locations under torture, but I owe it them to remain silent for as long as I am able.”

He nodded, perfectly calm.

“You are one weird dude, bro.”

“Hmmm.”

The Strawhats looked at each other.

“Before I go back to fishing, I was planning to have some tea after my nap. I have enough sets to serve several more people if any of you wish to come aboard.” The old man reeled in the line, stowed the fishing gear and walked inside without another word, leaving the Strawhats to speculate.

“How much do you want to bet he’s calling the authorities and we’re about to be surrounded by marines?” Usopp ventured nervously.

“The World Government has no presence on Manoa, remember?” Zoro reminded him.

“Well, guys? I guess we do the usual,” Nami said, holding out the straws for everyone to draw, “The three short straws follow the man on the boat.”

Franky, Robin, and Zoro ended up drawing the short straws.

The three of them climbed aboard the fishing-houseboat. Franky offered Robin a hand up, making the dark-haired woman giggle as she sprouted a dozen more hands to boost herself up and over the railing.

Franky chuckled and scratched his head, “Heh. Never mind, I guess.”

“It was a nice gesture, Franky.”

The three of them entered the door the old man had gone through, and stopped to look around.

The room looked like a tiny slice of beach. To their left was a life-sized sculpture of a large turtle on the artful drifts of sand. Its eyes were black gems, and the scales on its skin were iridescent greenish mother of pearl. Its shell looked like patches of ombre glass with subtle hints of color peeking out from underneath through the semi-translucent material.

Behind the turtle was a sculpture palm tree. Metals in different shades of copper and bronze were braided together, wrapped around each other and wound tightly into a helix to shape the trunk. The Strawhats didn’t disturb the sand to go inspect it, but from what they could see, the green fronds had the telltale sheen indicating they were made of silk. Murals on the walls were masterfully painted down to the slightest detail to look like the ocean and sky.

There was a driftwood walkway across the room leading to another door, and through it the Strawhats entered an underwater dreamscape.

Zoro didn’t know how the light was doing it, but patterns of light waving across his skin looked exactly like he was swimming underwater. Looking around the room, tiny, translucent beads were arranged on the surfaces of sculptures that created perfect replicas of fan, brain, pillar, and elkhorn corals, all arranged into a reef climbing the terraced walls. Anemones and other soft-bodied creatures made from some kind of unbelievably fine substance waved in the slight stirring of the room’s air as if they were real creatures caught in ocean currents.

When Zoro looked up, he located the source of the waving lines. The whole ceiling was lit brightly, but filtered through some kind of constantly-stirring liquid to create the water-lines of light on everything below.

From the ceiling, on wires or threads or some other means too small to see, hung more kinds of brightly-colored fish made from ultrafine glittering gems. Some of the fish seemed _too_ brightly colored to Zoro. Did colors like that even exist in nature? Did _patterns_ like that exist? Whatever they hung from must not be very flexible, as the fish in the air were still, the only part of them that was stirring were the jellyfish’s tentacles.

Now Zoro knew that these creatures _had_ to be made-up. Jellyfish didn’t have filaments on their bells that shimmered in rainbow shades. None that he had seen, anyway.

They wove their way through the coral reef and opened the next door into an inferno.

Orange and red lights reflected brightly off of twisted and beaten metals that came in every shade of yellow, orange, and red, making the colors flicker around the room in a way that resembled as if it was really on fire. A sculpture of a great dragon coiled around the room, dark red scales and spiky black embellishments making it the darkest thing in the room, hard to focus on, yet shadowy and menacing. The only reflective part of the dragon was its gemstone eyes…

No… its eyes weren’t just reflecting the orange light, they were _emitting_ it. Something that glowed brightly had been placed inside the head of the dragon sculpture, causing its eyes to gleam and a faint orange glow to emit from between its dagger teeth.

“Nice! It _super_ seems like it’s going to breathe fire on me,” Franky cheered enthusiastically.

“I wonder what’s next?” Robin mused.

The next room, of course, was completely normal-looking. Four settings of elegantly minimalist dishware waited for them on a low table surrounded by silk cushions.

“Did you like the rooms?” The old man asked politely, pouring tea from an unadorned teapot that matched the cups and saucers.

“It was quite an experience,” Robin said with a smile as she gracefully knelt in front of one of the tea sets, “I can’t imagine the expense of decorating such rooms.”

“Oh no, I did all the work myself. And the materials were easy to come by.”

“Oh? Do tell.”

“Hahaha! Clever girl! But no. Outsiders are not told the secrets of Manoa so easily.”

“I see.”

“Yes, well, even though I can’t tell you what you want to know, I do appreciate an audience for my art. Elsewhere on the ship I have other such rooms. A rainforest, a meadow of flowers and butterflies, a snowy mountain, and my most recent work – and I think it will be my last – a room to reflect the glory outer space. Planets, stars, moons, and asteroids. It is so hard to get such immensity captured in a small room, but I will accomplish it or spend the remainder of my life trying.”

They all drank their tea for a minute.

“We haven’t asked our questions, yet. Why are you so sure you can't tell us what we want?” Zoro asked, still sipping the (surprisingly good) tea.

“It’s easy enough to guess. Invaders really only have a few things they want. Money and more money. Oh, but that was rude of me! I do apologize.”

“It’s a fair assumption,” Robin admitted, “And we did follow a bird here that was carrying a large amount of treasure in its beak.”

“Ah, earlier you mentioned a bird, but I never imagined you were talking about the Zhenniao! Yes, the Zhen bird lives on a small islet just north of Manoa. The treasure you seek is there, too.”

“None of you seem to mind if we just go and take the treasure. Why is that?”

“None of us Manoans ever go near the treasure island. It’s guarded by a fog of poisonous smoke that kills anything it touches. Plus the Zhenniao wouldn’t like it.”

“Poison smoke? And you know the bird. What else can you tell us?”

“Well, not much. Each Manoan is taught from childhood to say the same thing to invaders: The treasure is to the North, leave the eternal pose, and please don’t kill anyone. That’s really all that treasure-hunters need to know. Getting through the treasure’s defenses like the poison fog and the Zhen is your own problem.”

“Nevertheless,” Robin said, “I assure you that the majority of us are not motivated by treasure. Our captain, for example, seeks only adventure. And as for myself, I am an archaeologist, and my goal in this world is to learn its true history.”

The old man’s gaze met Robin’s, his face unreadable. “A scholar, are you?” he said, his face giving nothing away, “I see. Well that changes everything. I don’t suppose I could convince the lot of you to leave the island a mystery, then?”

Robin shook her head.

“Very well. So long as you vow not to harm any citizens, I shall play tour guide for you.”

“We can’t do that,” Zoro refused, “If we are attacked, we’ll defend ourselves.”

“I didn’t mean it that way,” the old man sighed in exasperation, “I’m offering to give you a tour of the island, to _maximize the job_, and answer your questions as best as I am able. In return I ask that you do not _attack_ the citizens.”

Maximize the job? Zoro was used to having trouble with fancy words, but it was rare for him to hear a phrase where he knew all the words but still couldn’t understand what they meant. At least the rest of what the old man said had made sense.

Franky shrugged, “That seems an easy enough promise to make. I’m sure the others will agree.”

Both Robin and Zoro nodded their assent. Don’t go picking fights, basically. Sure. Usually the fights ended up picking them.

“Excellent! We don’t allow tourists here, so it will be great fun to try my hand at playing the role of guide.”

**Author's Note:**

> Notes and extras at squizbee dot livejournal dot com


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